Taijuan Corse of Queens pleads guilty in attack on 4 LIRR workers on train last summer, DA says
An LIRR train rolls toward Jamaica Station in March. Credit: Craig Ruttle
A Queens man pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted assault after waving a knife and cutting two LIRR workers on a train last summer, according to the Queens district attorney's office.
Taijuan Corse, 32, of Jamaica, was ordered banned from Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains for three years as a condition of his plea, said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
“Transit workers deserve to be treated with respect as they perform their duties and should never have to fear violence from passengers,” Katz said in a statement. “For the first time in New York City, a defendant’s sentence includes a transit ban. This defendant has forfeited the privilege of using our commuter trains for the foreseeable future, making it clear that incidents like this one will be taken very seriously.”
Corse, who boarded an eastbound train Aug. 25 at Atlantic Terminal, threatened conductor Steven Torborg when asked for a ticket, prosecutors said.
Corse didn’t have a ticket, prosecutors aid, and three other LIRR workers came to the aid of the 53-year-old conductor.
Prosecutors said Corse repeatedly lunged at the four LIRR workers with a knife, cutting the arm of transit worker Richard Cutrone, 52.
Authorities said Corse threatened to kill the workers as the train approached Jamaica Station and cut another worker, Gerald Lopez, 60.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Jerry Iannece ordered Corse to complete a one-year substance abuse and mental health outpatient program. The judge said Corse could face one to three years in prison if he fails to complete the conditions of his plea.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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